1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shelf, and, more particularly, to a portable shelf that is held in place by a towel bar.
2. Summary of the Background Information
Since individuals and families place widely variable demands regarding storage space for soaps, cosmetics, appliances, etc. that are frequently used in a bathroom, it is often difficult, during the design and construction of the bathroom, to correctly anticipate the number and placement of shelves that will eventually be needed. Furthermore, there are many factors, such as the aging of children into teenagers that have increased needs for such bathroom items and the presence of guests needing storage space for their own bathroom items, that place variable demands on bathroom shelving. It is therefore desirable to provide a shelf unit that can be easily added to a bathroom, with the new shelf deriving physical support from the surface of a wall and from a towel bar extending the along the wall in a spaced-apart relationship with the wall. One problem that must be solved arises from the fact that the size and shape of the towel bar and the distance between the towel bar and the wall are not known. For example, a towel bar may be square, rectangular, or circular in cross-section, and a square bar may be held with a flat side facing upward or with a corner facing upward.
The patent literature includes a number of descriptions of such shelf units, each including a shelf extending between a pair or end brackets supported by a towel bar and an adjacent end surface. For example, the shelf may be supported by a pair of end brackets, each of which includes an oblique front surface extending downward from a point in front of the towel bar to a point closer to the wall, so that different towel bar configurations rest against the bracket at different points along their oblique surfaces. In another example, a shelf is formed by a plate extending above and between a pair of end brackets, each of which extends rearward to rest against the wall both above and below the towel bar. Each of the end brackets includes an angle bracket that is slidably mounted by a screw and wing nut to be adjusted so that a leg of the angle bracket is held against an inner surface of the towel bar, with the end bracket being held against the wall. In other shelf assemblies, the end brackets are notched to accept an upward facing corner of a square towel bar, with either a rear surface of the shelf or the rear surfaces of the end brackets being additionally attached to the wall.